KPMG's highly informative blog post on the state of agriculture in South Africa reveals how farming is a crucial contributor to the local economy. The KPMG report further finds that not only is SA food secure, but is also a net food exporter. In effect, South Africa practises a "dual agricultural economy," with both well-developed commercial farming properties and more subsistence-based production in the deeply rural areas.
Furthermore, the Academy for Environmental Learning (AEL) is opening its doors in January of 2016 in the Upington area, which is quickly becoming SA's new green energy hub. AEL's course content is perfectly positioned to offer prospective students an all-round education in agriculture in order to aid their future careers in conservation. The AEL course runs for a year and consists of an academic section representing approximately 80% of the year program, which will include practical routines, fieldwork and research.
AEL director Fef le Roux states: "We shall equip young people who have finished school with the necessary training to become leading roleplayers in the preservation of South Africa's agricultural status quo and who are also aware of the importance of being kind to the environment.
"Our aim is to provide a facility to post-matric students who are passionate and concerned about the health of the environment with the hope of nurturing in them an understanding of the environment and a concern to manage it in the future."
AEL is being set up in such a way so as to face the challenges of environmental conservation head-on. Founders Fef le Roux and Dave Pepler, as well as the rest of team at AEL realise the monumental importance of environmentally sustainable agriculture in South Africa and will strive to instil these values into the prospective students of 2016.
